26/07/2017
'N'WONDERING
Igbos do not see people, they see money. Yorubas do not see crisis, they see opportunities. For Hausas and others, I'll say something about them as I write. Yes, this is a post exploring stereotypes, but the bright sides.
Let's begin with Yorubas. While I was in Jos, before Ogun, Lagos and Akure, I learned a thing or two about the Yorubas. I doubt I'd have noticed these things if not that I studied them in an environment where there are other ethnic groups. Yorubas two-time. It is in their character to. The Yoruba person conveniently goes to the mosque on Friday, and to church on Sunday. It is for this same reason Northern Muslims attack them during crisis. They label them non-foundational Muslims. But this is a commonness with Muslims, a problem too in Christianity--sects. Shi'ite and Sunni. Arab and African. Hausa and Yoruba. For now, I'll stop here.
Let's talk about the Igbos. They are enterprising. They put benefit before anything else. Hence, they're successful in business. They're greedy, and this resulted in the misunderstandings of the 60s which culminated in the Nigeria-Biafra war. Again, let's stop here.
The war has come and gone even though we still fight with words because our minds are still bitter. Whichever way, reference will always be made to the war. Whoever makes reference to it will apportion blames or not apportion blames. But definitely, they will be sympathetic with a side, oftentimes the Igbo. Whoever makes reference to the war will feel hate and resentment, or seek inspiration for a better Nigeria or the actualization of Biafra. Don't ask my position. I won't tell you. Not today.
"Distrust and resentment," John Rawls says, "corrode the ties of civility, and suspicion and hostility tempt men to act in ways they would otherwise avoid." The war has come and gone. I wasn't there when it was fought. But I do not look back to sip bile, I look forward to progress. But progress means a lot of things. To understand where I'm coming from, let's forget groups except where we have to draw lessons from them; let's focus on us as individuals. You as you, me as me.
A few days ago, I had a discussion with a certain Ogoni man. I was impressed with how he thought. He said something which will serve as my point of departure, this: "When you hate a people, you cannot learn from them." I am a believer in societal development. My approach to this development, however, isn't a collective one. It is somewhat individual, a kind of collective individualism. We're are a people whose minds are littered with bias and religion and tradition. We can hardly go far with this baggage. Hence, the need to travel light. Development must first be on individual basis. We must learn, unlearn and relearn. And because we're individuals who live in society, society will naturally become better when the majority of us are.
Life is all about perspective--what we choose to see. You see the Yoruba man and call him a hypocrite. You say that during the war he stayed neutral for selfish reasons. You say that while you fought he was busy sending his brothers abroad. But you have failed to see this as some open-mindedness necessary for development. Though we were taught that conflict brings about development, there is hardly any development during the period of conflict. The Yoruba man understands this. When he practices the religion of others, he is open-minded. He knows it isn't his. For him, it is just a means to an end. This mentality is what sets the Yorubas apart. So while we fight down South over oil, for Biafra in the East; while there is Boko-Haram and Southern Kaduna and Arewa-versus-Igbo up North, the Yoruba man knows to keep his place peaceful. Exactly there is where development will go!
At the core of the Igbo man's philosophy is work because Ndu bu isi (Life is primary) and Afo di mpka (the stomach is vital). When I read this in Sr. Marie's Philosophical Essays: Critique of Social Praxis, a lot happened to my mind. It is only natural for a hardworking person to be considered greedy. But like the "greedy" person we all have twenty-four hours. The greedy person has a brain, we do too. So while the Igbo man prays and hopes for Biafra, he works. He understands the meaning of starvation. He fears it because he has been there before. He has been deprived of many things. These, all these, inform his drive. And exactly where hardwork is, is where wealth will go!
Like Nnamdi Azikiwe, I've chosen to be eclectic and it is the energy I give off; what exactly I dish out. I see the good in every man. If we can put our diversity in a sieve, a bowl under it, the very best is what we will have in the bowl, or left in the sieve. And because Northerners are fundamentalists, we can borrow their commitment to religion for development. Committed to bettering us, we sure will get there.
Photo@Ed Kashi
Life in Okirika
'sOpinion
